Scarborough 2016 not a joke, says NBC insider

posted at 2:01 pm on February 10, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

Which Republicans might toss their hats into the 2016 GOP presidential ring, and when? Speculation in the media usually centers on Washington figures like Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio, and to a lesser degree about governors like Scott Walker and Susana Martinez. Earlier today, the Daily Caller’s Alex Pappas offered up another suggestion — MSNBC’s longtime Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough:

Last week, Scarborough was all smiles — even letting out a laugh — on “Morning Joe” when Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol suggested on the air that Scarborough could represent the “Jon Huntsman lane” in a 2016 GOP primary.

Scarborough would perform well in debates, which mattered in the 2012 contest.

Scarborough, through his recent book, has offered a blueprint for reform for the GOP.

There are just as many hurdles for Scarborough that would likely be turnoffs in a Republican nominating contest: His show represents the thinking of the Washington and New York political elite. He works for a liberal news network. He’s been divorced twice. He resigned from Congress.

Neither Alex or I could get Joe Scarborough to comment on the article; he declined when I asked personally. However, I did speak with an NBC insider with some familiarity of the show’s production, and the source thinks that this is more serious than one might imagine — but still a long way off from a decision. First, Scarborough just published The Right Path: From Ike to Reagan, How Republicans Once Mastered Politics–and Can Again, a book that reads very much like a political manifesto, or a campaign platform should he choose to use it as such. The book and the tour has been quite successful in its genre, especially considering the trough of an off-year publication. (I interviewed Scarborough about the book in November.)

According to this source, the thinking has deepened a bit since the Bridgegate scandal and its impact on Chris Christie’s chances — perhaps best considered as slightly more serious mulling than simply a flight of fancy. Plus, the insider points to some advantages Scarborough has with his current platform. The “entire life at Morning Joe is like a campaign,” the source told me, adding that the seven years Scarborough has spent engaging partisans on both sides has made him into an expert campaigner and communicator. Thanks to that long experience in the trenches and an “obsessive-compulsive” approach to show prep, Scarborough has developed “a ‘Rain Man’ memory” on issues and data.

None of this means that the consideration has gone beyond the spitballing stage. First, NBC won’t allow a show host to begin organizing a political campaign while keeping the day job, and the gig is … lucrative. Besides, no one in the GOP is in a rush to make themselves a political target this early in the cycle. At the moment, there’s nothing to show that this is anything more than theoretical, but it’s not being taken as a joke on the inside, either. If Scarborough doesn’t see any candidates following his right-leaning economic principles in the primary, he might feel “compelled” to give it a go, according to the insider.

We’ll see how serious this gets, but despite Scarborough’s amused reaction to Kristol last week, it’s not just a passing thought.

Just like the Dems are floating Warren out there to make Hillary look “moderate” in contrast, this must be a ploy to make Obama’s hug buddy look more “centrist” to all the conservative who loathe him. Nah, it’s a joke, and a not very tasteful one at that.

I know Joe personally. He is far more conservative than he has to come off when the little red light is lit at MSNBC. He came into the House as part of the 1994 Glorious Revolution and campaigned as a bona fide conservative.

His book is pretty good, too. Y’all should read it before passing judgment on him. I’d rather have him that Christie or another McRomney clone like Jeb.

Anyone who runs a political blog writing it up as anything other than the perfect symbol of an intellectually bankrupt political party, GOPe, which would view EGO as being more important than COMPETENCE.

Congratulations, Ed … you should consider switching to stand up comedy … especially since you’ve now demonstrated how completely you have given yourself over to the “Beltway Mentality”.

The field is wide open.Republicans won’t nominate a senator. They want a D.C. outsider.
Scarborough would perform well in debates, which mattered in the 2012 contest.
Scarborough, through his recent book, has offered a blueprint for reform for the GOP.

Nothing says “DC Outsider” more than a guy hosting a morning program on MSNBC that caters to beltway insiders.

He came into the House as part of the 1994 Glorious Revolution and campaigned as a bona fide conservative.

Conservative Mischief on February 10, 2014 at 2:15 PM

And suddenly took to the hills when a staffer was found dead in his office.

Sorry, but his MSDNC persona shows no indication of a serious conservative voice that I want to hear more about. He bullies conservative guests (such as they are) just as badly as his fellow leftists. I’ll pass on any consideration of his credentials.

Eight Republicans in the 141-member Maryland House of Delegates introduced legislation Thursday that would deny the NSA “material support, participation or assistance in any form” from the state, its political subdivisions or companies with state contracts.

The bill would deprive NSA facilities water and electricity carried over public utilities, ban the use of NSA-derived evidence in state courts and prevent state universities from partnering with the NSA on research.

So he doesn’t really think the NRA are morons and that Harvard grad Ted Cruz is an idiot? Oh, that’s nice. Now I’ll vote for him.

Marcus on February 10, 2014 at 2:34 PM

Yeah there is that whole gun-grabbing thing. He said the GOP was wrong to fight against “common sense” ideas like universal registration. He was angry that the bill proposed in the Senate was so “watered down.” How does that square with the idea that he should be running as a Republican and conservative?

Eight Republicans in the 141-member Maryland House of Delegates introduced legislation Thursday that would deny the NSA “material support, participation or assistance in any form” from the state, its political subdivisions or companies with state contracts.

The bill would deprive NSA facilities water and electricity carried over public utilities, ban the use of NSA-derived evidence in state courts and prevent state universities from partnering with the NSA on research.

Happy Nomad on February 10, 2014 at 2:36 PM

Follow up story:

All eight Republican members of the Maryland House of Delegates were killed in separate accidental vehicle explosions today. Investigators were unable to identify a likely cause for the explosions because in the words of the lead investigator, “These vehicles were completely shredded. If it wasn’t for the license plates we wouldn’t be able to tell you what type of cars they were.”

Then, just like other arrogant wannabes who think of themselves as smarter than you, more cultured, fair minded, and of course, politically moderate, he will get all butt hurt when he gets 11 votes in his first primary and turn on the GOP. Probably endorsing Hillary eventually.

Scarborough is just the kind of empty suit that thinks, his courage to call conservatives names while hanging out with progressives, qualifies him for higher office.

Only the clowns of the liberal NBC/MSNBC would believe that “RINO” Joe had a chance, even with the “Lap Dog” media support.
He could get the “Anti-Hillery” vote (yes, it does exist, shock to the lap dogs). He could get the RINO establishment vote if they had enough Kool-aid.
No conservative would even consider him as anything other than a RINO candidate.

Scarborough has zero credibility in his old district, (FL-1) and when he does show up around here, he acts like he’s on some sort of an anthropological field trip, studying some lost tribe of neanderthals.

Let’s call it what it is: potential leverage to renegotiate the contract of the only MSNBC show that is remotely competitive.

Scarborough didn’t just resign from Congress. He resigned unexpectedly, with no notice, just after being reelected to another term. Although the timing coincided with the still-unexplained death of a young female staffer in one of his Florida offices, he was in DC at the time – but questions still remained.

This was some of Kristol’s dry humor – the tip is he’s telling Joe to “occupy the Huntsman lane,” but of course there was no Huntsman lane, he was out early and never had any support beyond his daughters and his own bank account (except a few leftist media types who had high hopes).